


And then came magic

by Graymuse42



Series: Floof, the magic Cisco [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magic, Canon Rewrite, Cat, Fluff and Angst, Kidnapping, M/M, No edit we die like men, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23798476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graymuse42/pseuds/Graymuse42
Summary: “He can’t understand you.” Cisco nearly jumped over himself as he turned around, backing up towards the door and hissing as Cold approached. “Relax kid, I’m not here to pick a fight. Besides, I don’t exactly fancy putting ‘animal cruelty’ on my resume.”AKA, the one where Cisco gets turned into a cat.
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Leonard Snart
Series: Floof, the magic Cisco [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714594
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This one just showed up. As a bit of explanation: Magic exists, but isn't known. How it works will be revealed... as necessary... :)

“Drop it!” Ordered Cisco, powering up the vacuum cleaner. Captain Cold turned his head to glance at Cisco, not bothering to lower his weapon.

Barry was on the ground, still trapped by the ice, and Cisco was equal parts relieved and regretting not accepting Caitlin and Felicity’s offer of help here. Relieved because then they wouldn’t be out here in the middle of the field, in danger, facing down Snart. Regretting because it meant he had to do it alone.

“This is a prototype cold gun,” he began, hoping his voice wasn’t shaking as much as his hands. “Four times the size. Four times the power.”

Cold didn’t seem too impressed. But he hadn’t shot yet. “I was wondering who you were talking to.”

“Hey!” Cisco wasn’t about to be ignored here.

“You won’t do it.” The real cold gun was still trained on Barry, but at least Cisco seemed to have Cold’s attention. “Your hands are shaking. You’ve never killed before.”

“There’s a first time for everything, _Captain Cold,_ now back the hell up!”

Cold met his eyes then, and Cisco felt the fight go out of him. Everything in his mind screamed at him to drop the vacuum. But he couldn’t. Barry still needed him.

Cold thought for a moment, then lifted his own gun. “You think you’re ready for that fight kid?”

“Wha-”

In an instant Cold had grabbed Cisco’s arm, twisting the vacuum away from himself and pulling Cisco close. “You think you could handle what killing me would bring you? No. You’re not ready for the price that comes with it.”

Then he pushed Cisco away, and powered off his gun. “You win this time kid. Just remember: this world’s not fond of people poking their noses into its corners.”

Cisco stared after Cold for a moment before rushing to break Barry free of the ice. What did Cold mean by that?

Cisco muttered to himself as he hooked up the machines to run tests on the containment field.

Caitlin had refused to help him with his suspicions of Doctor Wells, so now he had to wake up insanely early to come in and run tests so he wouldn’t be found. Between that and Barry helping Joe with the Mardon problem, he had to do this all by himself.

When the machine started glowing, and the projection appeared inside the field, he knew he was right. But… how right had he been?

The clapping is what made him turn around. Because there, there was Dr. Wells. _Standing_. Joe had been right the whole time.

“You really are incredibly clever Cisco. If I hadn’t synced my tablet to all movement in the building, I might never have known you were here.” He moved forward, closing the laptop and shutting off the projection. “But, I’m sure that was the plan, wasn’t it? You came here early in the morning, before anyone can arrive, not even Caitlin. You thought I wouldn’t be here.”

“You’re the Reverse Flash,” Cisco finally managed to get out. Somehow voicing it made it all that much more real.

Wells smiled a moment, and it was nothing like the smile Cisco had come to know. “You and I have never been properly introduced. My name, is Eobard Thawne.”

“…Like Eddie,” Cisco realized, the implications beginning to sink in.

“Let’s call him a distant relative.” Wells, no, Thawne, sighed. “I wish it hadn’t come to this, but I’m afraid you’ve left me little choice.”

Cisco shook his head, opening his mouth and hoping his brain would get him out of this, but before he could speak Wells had him by the throat, hoisting him aloft.

“Don’t even try. I know what you were doing. You’ve been beating yourself up about the failed trap since December haven’t you? When did you start to suspect me? Was it Hartley? Or maybe Joe?”

Even if Cisco had been able to breathe, he wouldn’t have answered. As it was Wells didn’t get more than Cisco’s hands scrabbling at his arm as Cisco pleaded with his eyes, mouth open and gasping for air that Wells didn’t allow through.

“You’ve created quite the problem for me Cisco. I supposed I could kill you, and leave your body as a warning for Barry. ‘The Reverse Flash’ leaving another incentive.” Cisco’s hands tightened, a terrified whimper making it out of his throat. “But I’d rather not kill you unless necessary. I’ve become rather fond of you. Still, I can’t allow you to tell the others what you know.”

Lightning and wind whirled around them, and when Cisco opened his eyes again they were in Thawne’s house. Wells (Thawne) dropped him on the floor where he gasped for breath, keeping his eyes on Thawne.

“What’re you going to do with me??” He asked, backing up till his back was against a wall. A wall that was… glowing. Glowing dark red, like the Reverse Flash’s lightning. The same red that was coating Wells-no, _Thawne’s_ arm, and was _surrounding_ Cisco. He closed his eyes, shielding his face from the lightning as best he could.

The next thing he knew, he was flat on his stomach, blinking his eyes open to take in his surroundings.

_What? No, no no nononononono_

He sucked in a breath, trying to wrap his head around this. He was a cat. He was little gray cat, and Wells was kneeling down, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. Which had a scruff because HE WAS A CAT!!

“What did you do to me?!” He squeaked out, trying to swipe his claws (claws!) at the hand lifting him up. “What did you do? Why am I a cat? What are you doing?!”

“You’re incredibly clever Cisco, I’m sure you could find any number of ways to escape as a human. But you’ll find things are incredibly less cooperative when you’re feline.”

Thawne moved them into another room, dropping Cisco onto the carpeted floor as his phone began to ring. He frowned, answering it quickly.

“I’m surprised to hear from you at this hour, is everything alright?” Cisco tried to hear who was on the other end of the phone, but his hearing was picking up strange noises in the air, each distracting him from what was happening in front of him. “No, no of course. I’ll be there in just a few minutes, just hold tight.”

Thawne hung up and sighed, pinching his nose. “It looks like I’ll have to leave you here. That was Caitlin. Apparently Barry’s facing down Mark Mardon at the docks, and Mardon’s trying to summon a tsunami.”

“What-Is he alright?? They need my help!”

Thawne smiled darkly, red bleeding into his eyes. “Don’t worry about them, I’m highly invested in Barry’s survival for the moment. If I were you I’d worry more about your own health right now.”

And with that Thawne had closed the door and was gone in a burst of electricity.

“Oh, underestimating me is gonna be your LAST mistake buddy,” Cisco muttered under his breath, crouching down to pounce at the doorknob.

He swore as his head hit the door, paws sliding uselessly down the knob until he fell down, crashing into the floor. He frowned, glancing around himself at the room. He was in an office type room, with a desk and chairs and papers. There was plenty to destroy if he wanted to, but that wasn’t what he needed right now.

He scampered up the leg of the nearest chair, lunging for the desk. If a few papers got shredded in the landing, well, that was just a bonus.

The desk was well organized, and as a result it was painfully obvious that what he was looking for wasn’t on it.

He sat down, ears flattening as he tried to think. All he had to work with was a stapler, some paper, a few rubber bands, and a pen.

He’d been hoping for a letter opener or something he could use as a weapon, but nothing here would give him any advantage over Thawne. Still, there had to be something he could do with these.

He glanced back over his supplies, then back at the door, an idea forming in his head.

Grabbing the rubber band in his teeth, he spat it out again immediately at the taste. He quickly swiped his paw at his tongue to try and get the taste off, only to realize that he still had to pick the thing up.

Cisco sighed, picking it up again, careful not to let it touch his tongue as he jumped off the desk.

The door seemed to taunt him, and he squared his shoulders as he calculated the jump. After a few leaps, he finally managed to wrap the rubber band around the door knob. Another leap and he was able to latch his claws into the rubber, using his momentum to turn the grip on the knob. A moment later, the latch came undone and the door swung open.

Cisco grinned as he approached the main lobby. Wells still hadn’t fixed the damage from Hartley’s attack.

With a few carefully calculated leaps, he made it through the top window and was off, racing back towards town.

It took him almost two hours before Cisco had made it to Barry’s apartment, several miles away from Thawne’s house. He was sure his absence would be discovered soon, but his lacking sense of direction couldn’t really be helped. Finally, he found his way to the street where Barry’s apartment stood, crouching down next to the door to wait for Barry. Glancing up, he glared at the overcast sky. Barry needed to hurry up.

If Barry was even gonna come back. Maybe he’d go to Joe’s place to help keep him safe, or stay overnight at the lab with Wells. But at this point Cisco didn’t have much else he could think of. Wells knew where all of them lived, but Barry was the only one who might notice if Wells tried anything in his vicinity. So now all he could do was wait.

It didn’t take long, only around half an hour before the Flash was standing outside the door of the apartment complex, freezing there. Cisco figured he’d probably forgotten that he didn’t keep the key inside his suit, and so took that time to run up to him.

“Thank god you’re here! Okay, this is gonna be hard to believe, but it’s me, Cisco, I got turned into a cat, Wells isn’t who he says he is!”

“Oh! Hello there,” Barry didn’t seem too surprised that Cisco was a cat, but he supposed if Barry was having as rough a day as it had sounded, he’d probably be a little emotionally drained. “Sorry, it’s been a trying day. I almost lost someone close to me…” he trailed off, a bit lost in thought.

“Dude you have no idea, but did you not hear what I said about Dr. Wells??”

Then Cisco saw Cold watching from the alley a few yards away, and backed up hissing.

All intimidation was lost when he backed over the side of the curb, landing with his back paws on his tail and tripping even further till he was sprawled on the side of the road. He gingerly picked himself up and climbed back onto the sidewalk, glaring at Barry as he laughed.

“I thought cats were supposed to be graceful!”

“Yeah, you try being graceful when you were human literally 2 hours ago,” muttered Cisco. Barry didn’t seem to notice, but Cold was now looking at him oddly. “Seriously dude, can we talk inside? Please?”

“Aww, did you hurt yourself when you fell down?” Barry shrank down to Cisco’s level, gently scratching his ear.

“What??” Cisco shook off Barry’s hand, staring at him. “Dude, come on!” Barry retreated his hand, standing up and moving to head inside. “Finally!” Cisco muttered, scampering after Barry as well as he could only for the door to shut in his face. “…What?! Hey, what the hell dude?! Flash! Flash!!” 

“He can’t understand you.” Cisco nearly jumped over himself as he turned around, backing up towards the door and hissing as Cold approached. “Relax kid, I’m not here to pick a fight. Besides, I don’t exactly fancy putting ‘animal cruelty’ on my resume.”

“In the crowds you run in it might actually get you places. And I’m not an animal!”

Cold sighed, kneeling down in front of Cisco. “Listen. I know you don’t exactly think highly of me. You’ve pretty much got no reason to. But I know a bit about what happened to you, and I can help. So, you can come with me and I can see about getting it reversed, or, you can sit around out here all night hoping for Scarlet in there to try and let you in. If he can hear you from his apartment on what I’m guessing is the 3rd floor.”

Cisco considered it. He genuinely did. But then the overcast sky turned into rain, and he shuddered as a drop fell between his shoulders. He dropped his ears, and with one final glance back at Barry’s apartment complex, walked towards Cold.

Cold gently lifted Cisco by his torso, bringing him close to his chest and wrapping him in the parka, which was definitely not comforting. And Cisco definitely didn’t start purring.

By the time they’d arrived where Cold was taking them, Cisco had already dozed off twice. “I don’t know why I’m so tired…” he muttered as he jumped down from Cold’s arms onto a nearby couch.

“You’re tired because cats in general require up to 16 hours of sleep. That’s simply more than you’re used to.”

Cisco glared, but stretched out and began dozing off again. A few minutes later Cold sat down next to him on the couch, a couple books on the coffee table and one in his hand. “Why do you even have a coffee table?” Cisco muttered, yawning and stretching before glancing up to the book in Cold’s hand. “What is that?”

“It’s a codex. They’re the most popular forms of studying magic.”

Cisco blinked at him. “Magic.” Not even looking up, Cold nodded, scanning through the book. “Okaaay, maybe I should be going now. You know, where people _aren’t_ tripping on acid.”

“Cisco, you’re a cat. How did you think that happened, a time machine?”

Cisco didn’t appreciate the condescension, but he had to admit he didn’t have much of any other options. Still, he wasn’t about to give up on his hard earned common sense. “Magic isn’t real, I would have found it by now.”

“What, you need proof?” Cold turned to stare at him now, his gaze just as piercing as ever. “I would have thought your current curse would be proof enough.”

Standing, Cisco walked over sit next to Cold, narrowing his eyes. “This was done by someone from the future, who happens to be a meta. So yes, time travel _was_ involved in this. There’s things in this world we don’t understand yet. But it’s science. Not magic.”

“So you don’t believe that magic is a term for what science just doesn’t have an explanation for yet?” Cisco was readying a response when Cold raised his hand, a pale blue light flickering along his fingers and solidifying into a crystal of ice, floating above his fingers.

Cisco just stared. “But… you’re not a meta…”

“I’ve had this ability for years. It’s magic. Just like what happened to you, is the result of magic.” He stood up, setting down his codex and moving around his apartment, picking up supplies.

“Magic is real…” Cisco muttered to himself. “Wait- when you said Flash couldn’t understand me, is that because of magic?? Can I be cursed so certain people can’t understand me??”

Cold chuckled. “Is it because of magic? Yes. Your curse isn’t that complicated though. The Flash doesn’t have a trace of magic about him. That much was evident from our first fight. No, this is a simple rule of transformative curses: only magic holders can understand you. To everyone else you just sound like a normal cat.”

He sat down again, this time with a few boxes, a notebook, and a pen. “Now: how did this happen?”

So Cisco recounted his story. Of investigating the trap earlier this morning, being found by the Reverse Flash, being abducted and turned into a cat, and then escaping to find Barry.

Snart didn’t interrupt him the entire time, taking notes here and there in his notebook. When Cisco was done, Snart reviewed his notes.

“Why did this Reverse Flash person abduct you?”

Cisco glanced down. “Because I figured out who he is.”

“You’re not going to tell me who, are you.” This wasn’t a question.

“Would I tell you who the Flash is?”

“You’re loyal to the Flash. Are you loyal to the Reverse Flash?”

Cisco frowned, ears drooping. “…I don’t know. No. No, no I’m not, I can’t be. It doesn’t matter who he is, he’s done horrible things…”

He felt Snart’s hand on his head, gently rubbing his fur. It was nice. “…The Reverse Flash is Dr. Wells. He’s been fooling us this whole time. And the others don’t know. They’re working right next to him. And they have no idea.” The weight of everything that had happened that day came crashing down on him then, and he collapsed onto the couch, curling up as tight as he could.

“Go ahead and get some rest. I’ll keep going over the books. I’ll wake you if I find something.”

Cisco nodded, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

When Cisco woke up, it was to the smell of cooking meat. He yawned and stretched, finding a small bowl of cream on the table in front of him. He would have been insulted, but his stomach decided to take that time to remind him that he hadn’t eaten since early this morning, and that hadn’t been much, too eager to investigate his theory.

He lapped at the milk, glancing around himself. Snart was in the kitchen, cooking something. There were open books on the table, words and diagrams arranged in a strange spiral around the page. He tried to follow it, but the words themselves refused to make sense. Still, there was a piece of paper next to him with the translations written, and stared at it curiously.

By the time Snart was done cooking and had set some of the meat (chicken) in front of Cisco, he’d developed a headache. All he’d really comprehended from it was something about intent and precision.

“Magic’s complicated,” he commented, digging into the chicken with his teeth. “What language is that, Latin?”

“Gaelic, actually.” Snart sighed, sitting down. “I tried to warn you about this life, and yet look at you: cursed by the hand of a 4th rank spell caster.

“Warn me? Wait, you mean in the train wreck? Is THAT what you meant? That ‘warning’ was so cryptic! Why can’t you give a fellow a normal warning! ‘Hey, magic’s real’ would have worked just as well!”

“And you would have believed that? You didn’t even believe it when I told you this afternoon!”

Cisco frowned, but turned back to his chicken. He’d thought what was in front of him wouldn’t be enough, but he found himself full before he’d even eaten half of it.

“Is this magic too?” He asked.

“Magic food? No. While it’s possible, I haven’t really put in the effort to learn that spell. You’re just not used to the constraints of being a cat.”

Cisco wandered back to the couch, crouching down and leaping onto the cushions, scrabbling as he mistimed his jump and face planted into the back of the couch.

He glared at Snart, who was muffling a laugh behind his hand. “Then again, I guess you’re just not used to anything involved in being a cat. I doubt you could even scratch me.”

Cisco was affronted. “I could scratch you!” He demonstrated by flexing his claws out as far as he could. He smirked, then yelped as Snart took his paw and pressed it into some odd kind of foam before releasing his paw.

“Thank you,” Snart mock bowed before moving back to his books.

“What was that?!” Cisco whined, miffed at being handled.

“I needed your paw print to identify your species, and figure out what kind of spell he used. Unfortunately _gray_ isn’t a species.”

“Well you’re not getting it again!” complained Cisco, trying to retract his claws. He frowned, staring at his claws and willing them back into his paws. It didn’t work. He tried flexing them back in. Nothing.

“Here, let me help,” offered Snart, but Cisco eyed him warily. “Or you can just walk around with knives on your paws till the spell’s reversed.”

Still frowning, Cisco moved closer to Snart and sat down, allowing his paw to be held. “Only because it’s your fault to begin with.”

Snart sighed, holding the paw gently and stroking his thumb down the leg and into the muscle, helping him relax. “Sure kid, blame everything on me if it makes you feel better.”

Cisco’s ears twitched, even as his claws retracted. “If you’re helping me out of _pity_ then you can just leave me alone.”

Snart set down the paw, picking up his book again. “I wouldn’t classify it as pity. More… academic interest.”

“Academic interest. Right. Is that why you were stalking the Flash’s apartment?”

“I had no idea that’s where he lived. All I knew was this morning I felt a surge of power, and when I traced it back, it had stopped moving in front of that apartment building. I know now that it was you, and your curse.”

“So you’re after power.” He didn’t want to be insulted by that, but it did sting a little.

“I’m protecting my territory. If there’s another spell caster in town, then the odds of him being peaceful are fairly minuscule. Most of them aren’t. This is as much my problem now as it is yours. It just makes the most sense to fix this problem, not only because you’re rather useless in this form, but also because if I can figure out his style of magic then I can figure out a strategy against it. Unfortunately none of my books seem to have anything on this particular spell. Although…”

The book slammed closed and Len stood up quickly, grabbing his parka as he headed towards the door. “It’s time to visit an old friend.”

“Old friend?? THIS IS A MUSEUM!” Cisco meowed irately up at Len, who just smirked.

“She and I go way back.” The door was open in a matter of seconds, and Cisco realized now that one of the main reasons Snart never left a fingerprint was that he didn’t even need to touch the door for it to open. A few muttered words in Gaelic and the door swung open.

“She? The museum is a she??”

Len didn’t respond to this, merely side-stepping into the room.

Suits of armor glared down at the pair, and Cisco shrank back into the hood of Len’s parka, wishing he was a little smaller. “Do they always glare?” he hissed.

“I guess I’ve gotten used to it. There’s no cameras in them, and they’re a lot harder to fence than some of the other items here, so they’re not a priority.”

That earned him a glare. “If you could stop reminding me you’re a thief, it’d help.”

“You remember we’re breaking in to a museum, right?” he laughed. “If I’m not a thief then we’re in a lot of trouble. Besides, this would be a lot easier if you and your friends hadn’t destroyed my gun.”

“Um, it was _my_ gun, you stole it. And… there’s a chance they were never destroyed. We left it to Wells to handle, but since he’s the Reverse Flash, it’s entirely possible he just kept them for himself. We wouldn’t know.” 

There was another door ahead, but this one took Len a moment to open, a faint glow hovering over his hands as he muttered. “I don’t suppose you’d remember to try and get it back to me when this is over, would you?”

“Honestly, I was kind of hoping to forget this entire thing once it’s over. It’s not like anyone would believe me.”

Len paused for a moment, and Cisco couldn’t see his face, but he knew that he was thinking about something upsetting. He could feel the tension in the man’s spine. “I’m not sure that’ll be an option for you kid, sorry.”

The glow came back, and a few moments later the door was open.

“What do you mean it might not be an option? Why wouldn’t it?” He didn’t get an answer, but he was done being ignored. “Hey, what do you mean?? Does this have anything to do with what you told me at the train wreck? You said you were talking about magic, but that’s not all there is, is it?” Len was didn’t answer him, but Cisco wouldn’t have it. He turned in the hood, glancing down and wincing before he leapt over the side of the hood and onto the floor.

He landed lighter on his feet than he thought he would, though he still swayed slightly before he got his balance back, turning to glare at Len who’d stopped walking. “You’re not telling me everything about all this. Spill.”

“Everything about magic? Kid, I don’t know everything about magic, _nobody_ does, scholars have spent years studying it without scratching the surface.”

Cisco’s eyes narrowed. “ _What_ scholars. I’d never heard of this before today, and with my research topics I should have. So _what_ aren’t you telling me?? I’m not moving till you tell me.”

He yelped as Len grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, clasping his hand around Cisco’s paws and effectively immobilizing him. “You’re still just a kitten. My job’s to get you back to human, not tell you the secrets of the universe. If you don’t want to cooperate that’s your problem.”

They were moving again, and while Cisco was tempted to try and bite Len, he felt like that wouldn’t do any good. He made a silent promise to himself though that if this didn’t work, he’d go back and chew up all of Len’s electrical cords just to spite him.

They came to another door now, and Cisco glanced up at Len. “The electrician’s office?”

Len smirked. “This place runs on magic. They don’t need an electrician.”

He set Cisco down, focusing his powers on the door in front of him. This time the door didn’t want to cooperate, and blue light began to swirl around Len’s arms as he muttered.

The door began to glow as well, a vibrant green that repelled against Len’s magic, until it cracked, fracturing into shards that glittered, then winked out. Len took a deep breath, then smirked at Cisco, who was staring in awe. “Impressive, isn’t it?”

Cisco jumped into the offered hand, and Len opened the door. Inside seemed like just an ordinary electrician’s office, until Len waved his free hand and the computers and wires faded out of existence, revealing a small library.

The shelves were packed with books of various sizes, all written in languages he didn’t recognize. Though, if he had to wager a guess, he’d say they were probably dead languages from around the world. 

Len didn’t look comfortable in this room, and Cisco was tempted to ask him again, but he didn’t think he’d get a different answer this time. Before he could try, Len stopped in front of one of the shelves, scanning the books there, before reaching out to pick up a book with a faint red aura.

And just like that, the floor winked out, and Cisco and Len fell.

Cisco groaned as he came to, reaching his hand up to rub at his neck.

Wait-

He pulled his hand back, staring at it before leaping to his feet. “I’m human! I’m human again! Hey Len, I’m-” He froze, realizing his position and quickly moving his hands to cover his groin.

Len sighed, moving to sit up even as he kept his eyes closed. “When you change back you do so naked, yes. That’s led to some awkward family dinners.” He shrugged off his parka, extending it in Cisco’s general direction.

Cisco snatched the offered clothing, wrapping it around himself and zipping it closed. “You can open your eyes now,” he muttered, pulling the hood over his head like he could cover more of himself that way.

Len opened his eyes, took one look at Cisco bundled in his parka, and burst out laughing.

“What??” Asked Cisco, wrapping it tighter around himself. Len just kept laughing. “It’s not funny!” He sighed, turning his head. “You must have hit your head when we fell.”

Len’s laughter cut off, and Cisco flinched back as fingers brushed his neck. “…He did this to you didn’t he. The spell caster.”

Cisco had honestly managed to forget Thawne hoisting him up by the neck. He remembered it now with a shudder, curling in on himself more.

“Cisco… I know you must have been close to this Dr. Wells person. If you need to talk…”

“What the hell happened to us?” he asked, trying to change the subject. He didn’t want to talk. He wanted to forget. Len must have picked up on that.

Glancing around, Len frowned. “It must have been a booby trap.”

“Seriously? ‘Oh, look at me, I’m an expert thief, and I take random books off bookshelves without checking for booby traps’! No wonder Barry can take you down, even with your magic.”

“Barry?”

Cisco froze, trying to play it cool. “Yeah… I mean, he…works for the police.” _Way to save face you idiot,_ he chastised himself, even as Len chuckled.

“So the Scarlet Speedster’s a badge. Why is that not surprising. Wait, Barry, as in Barry Allen? Doc Allen’s kid?”

“Of course you know him. You know everything. Well, does your ‘knowing everything’ know how to get us out of here?”

Len opened his hands, staring at them intently. “No, I can’t get anything to work. I’m guessing the room cancels out magic, which is probably why your curse isn’t in effect.”

“Meaning once we leave this creepy as dungeon I’m gonna be a cat again?”

“Effectively, yes.”

“Great.” He looked around at the walls. Cold stone, no door. There was air coming from somewhere, but he couldn’t find a source. Light too, but again, no source. As far as he could see, they were in a stone box with no exit. “I don’t suppose there’s anything in that book that could help?”

Len sighed, picking it up and scanning through the pages. Cisco sighed, sitting next to him and staring over his shoulder.

“What are you doing kid?”

Cisco sighed. “Trying to learn. I can’t really do much else, can I?”

“It doesn’t work like that. Learning magic is harder than just _reading a book_. It takes years of training, or a significant exposure to magic to the point where it seeps into your bones.”

“Like being cursed?”

Len shook his head. “Like killing another spell caster.”

Cisco glanced over at Len. “…so _that’s_ what you meant when you said I wasn’t ready. If I’d been able to kill you that day I would have become a spell caster?”

Len nodded, eyes on the book but not really reading at this point. “You would have gained all the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years. All of my magic would have flown to you.”

“Well then. I guess it’s a good thing that wasn’t a real gun.” Len looked up sharply. “Dude I was bluffing that day. It was a vacuum cleaner. I just wanted you away from my friend.”

The laughter was unexpected, he’d never known that Captain Cold laughed so easily. “Is that why that spell didn’t work on you? I’d thought you were just immune to magic! Oh, Lisa’s never going to get over this.”

“Spell. What spell? Who’s Lisa?”

Len calmed down, closing the book. “Well, I guess I don’t need this. I’d thought this curse had to be complicated since you’d expressed an immunity to magic earlier, but it seems I was just wasting my time then.” He took a deep breath, trying to explain. “When you challenged me at the train wreck I cast a spell to drain everyone in the vicinity of their will for violence. I’d never planned on actually hurting the Flash, so it didn’t impact me. When you didn’t lower your gun, I figured you were resistant to magic. But if it was never a weapon to begin with, then I effectively cast a useless spell.”

Cisco just stared. “…Go back to how we don’t need that book, and how we’re wasting our time. What?”

“If you’re not immune to magic, then all we need to do to unravel the spell is get you back to the place it was cast and cast ‘unravel spell’. It’s an easy spell that I picked up when I first began magic. If I'd known this then I could have taken us there immediately.”

Irritated, Cisco stood up. “So we’re stuck down this hole because you thought I was ‘immune’ to magic??”

“You should probably sit down until you find something that covers a little more,” Len commented, keeping his eyes averted.

Cisco sat down hastily, keeping his hands in front of him, trying not to blush.

“I didn’t think you knew anything about it, since you were so against the concept of magic. Plenty of people have developed immunities, especially if someone in their family was a spell caster. We’ll be out of here before long, whoever cast the spells will be alerted that their magic was tampered with and come to investigate. Hopefully we’ll be able to talk them out of turning us over to authorities.”

“So the people who own the museum?”

“Not necessarily. Whoever cast that spell wasn’t the same person who warded the door. Their aura was different. A dark red aura, as opposed to the green aura around the door. Perhaps we can talk them out of-”

“Wait, the color of their magic indicates who it is?” Cisco asked, standing up again, backing up.

“…Yes, that tends to be the case. You noticed how my magic is a pale blue, like ice? Well, that red aura is probably linked to the spell caster who last enchanted that book, and they’ll be informed that their spell was tampered with. Cisco, what’s wrong?” Len stood up now, carefully approaching Cisco who’d backed himself up into a corner, shaking his head.

“The aura… that was red. Dark red, it’s the same color as _his_ magic. The same red that turned me into a cat. Oh god, this is a trap, I ran but he still caught me, how did he know? How did he know I’d come here, there’s no way he could have known, but now he’s gonna come find us and he’s gonna take me back, and he’ll lock me in a cage and I won’t be able to escape and he’ll kill me and Barry’ll never know what happened to me I can’t-”

“Cisco, you need to calm down, you’re panicking!”

Cisco was shaking all over now, no, the _room_ was shaking, a deep rumbling surrounding the whole room, until the rocks began to crack, fracturing around them even as Len pulled Cisco towards him, out of the way of falling debris.

Cisco stared at the place he had been standing not a moment before, gaping. “That was… I almost…” The shaking had died down now, Cisco’s brain shorting out as he processed that he’d almost been crushed by the rock.

“Looks like powers work just fine in here. And look at that, you gave us a way out.”

Cisco just looked between the ceiling, which had opened up into the library, and the stone that had fallen down. “Heh. I have power. Okay.”

“You alright now?”

He glanced at Len, then at the ceiling, then at his hands. “I have powers. Thawne’s coming to kill us. You’re magic. I’m about to be a cat. This is a dream.” He tried to sit down, but Len caught him by the arms, pushing him towards the opening.

“You can space out when you’re small enough I can carry you. Until then, climb.”

By the time Cisco had snapped out of his daze, they were over half-way to Thawne’s house. Which somehow Len already knew where it was. Cisco decided he wasn’t going to ask about that.

“So do we have a plan?”

“Break in, undo the curse, get out.”

“He’s a speedster.”

“I don’t plan on getting caught.”

“Neither did I, and now I’m a cat!”

Len slowed down the bike, stopping at a red light. “Do you have a better idea?”

“Something that doesn’t involve him catching us would be appreciated. He’ll know we’re coming now.”

“So how do we get him out of the house?”

“We have to wait for him to leave. He usually does that whenever Barry’s fighting a meta. He wouldn’t have a chance to sneak away without revealing his identity.”

“He knows you got away, he’s probably already got a plan for dealing with your friend without compromising his identity. He’ll be more careful when he’s out of the house, we need him to think he’s got the upper hand.”

“He _does_ have the upper hand. Our only advantage is that he doesn’t know you’re helping me. Unless he recognizes your magic, in which case it’s game over.”

“I didn’t leave any magic for him to recognize. Besides, most spell casters are either in the community or trying to avoid drawing their attention. Since he left a trap for anyone who went looking into this magic, it’s safe to say he’s not trying to attract the attention of the community either.”

“This magic? Wait, did you bring the book with us?! Why would you do that?? He probably has a tracer on it and can find us now-”

“Hey, chill, I already purified the book. There are no more spells surrounding it.”

“You couldn’t have done that before you picked it up and got us trapped?”

Len frowned. “You’re not going to let that go any time soon.”

“As far as I’m concerned that’s the biggest rookie mistake of all rookie mistakes, so no. I’m not letting that go.”

They pulled into a bar, and Len dismounted the bike, carrying Cisco inside with him.

“They let cats into bars these days?”

Len nodded at the bartender to let him into the backroom without so much as a word. “I know the owner, he tends to not ask too many questions. We’ll have time to plan. As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right. We don’t have a good plan. So let’s fix that.”

Len glanced through the window, confirming that Thawne was out cold. He moved quickly, muttering under his breath as the light blue aura surround them. The door opened soundlessly before Len, and he smirked.

“We just need to get into the main hallway, it shouldn’t be too much further,” whispered Cisco into Len’s ear. He still hadn’t relinquished his perch on Len’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to whisper, you know. This silencing spell nullifies all sound within a five foot radius. You could drop a bomb inside, and as long as the explosion doesn’t leave the sphere nobody would hear a thing.”

“Damn, your magic’s good.” Cisco glared. “You use it to steal though don’t you.”

“Is that honestly a question?”

They were at the main hall, and Cisco saw where he’d been cursed, frowning at the distinct lack of clothes there. “Am I gonna be able to get that shirt back? I really loved it.”

Len set Cisco down on the tiles, calling up his magic. “Show time…” he muttered.

“I’m surprised you’re the one he went to for help. Explains why I couldn’t track him earlier.” Thawne stepped from seemingly nowhere, smirking.

Len met Cisco’s eyes and nodded, and Cisco took off.

Before Thawne could chase after him, Len released the building magic, freezing half the room and giving Cisco time to run.

“What do you want with him anyway?”

Thawne just smirked. “I should be asking you the same thing. I’m just keeping my identity safe. But what does a 3rd rank spell caster want with him?”

“Academic interest.”

“Like your interest in the Flash?”

“You could compare it to that,” Len kept his eyes on Thawne. If what Cisco had told him was true, then Thawne was significantly more capable of killing him than the Flash ever was. He needed to play it safe. “though it’s nothing like your own interest in the Flash. I take it being a fanboy wasn’t enough? Had to kill his mother too? What, was she getting too much of his attention?”

Len barely dodged Thawne, using his ice to deflect the attack and cover the floor in a thick layer of ice, which encased Thawne’s legs.

Now the room resembled more skating rink than hallway, and Len smirked again.

“Try using your speed when you can’t even run,” he challenged.

Which was when a bolt of lightning came flying at him. Len had enough time to dodge behind a pillar, but winced. That bolt hadn’t been magic. That was what he could do as a speedster. Clearly the Flash had a lot more to learn.

“You’re buying yourself seconds, Cold. Nothing more.”

Len felt his magic come undone as Thawne vibrated, electricity helping him melt off the ice.

“Oh well, worth a shot,” he muttered before conjuring a force field of his own, keeping Thawne out. It wouldn’t last long. About as long as he could hold his breath. But it was enough time for a small object to come spinning in to land at his feet.

He smirked, picking it up and firing his cold gun at Thawne, releasing his breath as he did so. “Thanks kid,” he muttered, chuckling as Cisco called back a ‘I’m 25 you know!’

He took the time to encase Thawne in a shell of ice, picking up Cisco and setting him back in his parka hood. “You’re sure this is gonna work?” he asked as Thawne began to vibrate through the ice.

“Positive. Ever since you kidnapped Caitlin I made sure to include thermal sweeps into the Star Labs satellite.” Cisco bit Len’s ear, expecting the hand that batted away at him. “That was for kidnapping her, by the way.”

“I’ll explain that later. Right now we’d better hope our friend in red shows up soon.”

Right as the ice fully came away from Thawne, traces of yellow electricity filled the room, Barry coming to stand between Thawne and Len.

“Dr. Wells? What? Captain Cold-is that a cat?! What’s happening here?”

Thawne frowned, clearly coming to the realization of Cisco’s plan.

A moment later he disappeared in a blur of red electricity, leaving the three of them behind.

Barry just stared. “…Dr. Wells… is the Reverse Flash… How…?” He turned to face Captain Cold, trying to figure out what was happening, so Len just set the gun down and raised his hands.

“I’m not here to fight you. You might want to have a seat though before you-”

Barry apparently took his words literally because he sat down on the floor, staring at his hands like they could somehow reverse the last 3 minutes of his life.

“Or you can do that. Listen, I’m just trying to deal with something, so keep doing what you’re doing, I’ll be back.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Asked Barry, clearly having regained enough thought to argue.

“To deal with a cat. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Cisco frowned, glancing down at the ice. “I don’t want to be on this thing again, especially without my fur. Can you do something about it?”

Len sighed, retracting the magic and leaving the floor free of ice. Barry stared around himself, and let out an unbelieving chuckle.

“Ready kid?” He asked. Cisco nodded, and Len closed his eyes, feeling the magic run down his arms and isolate the components of the curse before undoing each of them.

He knew the moment Cisco was human again, because he began shivering, teeth chattering together. As much as the ice was gone, the room was still twenty degrees below normal, and the glass roof was still broken.

He slipped off his parka, offering it to Cisco again, even as Barry gaped.

“Cisco was the cat?! Okay, I can’t believe this.”

Cisco groaned, accepting Len’s offered parka. “Barry, you would not believe any of the day we’ve had.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I know that Len and Cisco are going to be dealing with a lot more magic going on, but should I come back to Cisco as a cat at any point? Should he learn to transform himself? Or possibly after effects of being cursed, or getting stuck in another curse? What do you guys think?   
> Again, thank you so much, and I really appreciate all your positive comments! Stay safe!


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